stonebackastronomers - Claudius Ptolemy- C

Important Dates:

Born approximately in 85 A.D.
Died approximately in 168 A.D.
Ptolemy made astronomical observations from Alexandria Egypt during the years 127-41 A.D.

What Ptolemy did as and Astronomer:

Claudius Ptolemy was one of the most influential Greek astronomers, geographers, and mathematicians of his time
Claudius Ptolemy wrote treatises in his thirteen books
His most famous treatise was the Almagest
He developed a model of the universe known as the Ptolemaic System.
Claudius also discovered the irregularity of the moon's orbit
He claimed that everything in the universe moves either toward or around the Earth

Theory:

Ptolemy's theory was that the Earth was in the center of the universe and all of the planets including the sun, revolved around it
His theory is known as the Ptomeaic Theory
Claudius Ptolemy's theory was correct for 1,500 years until proved wrong

Ptolemy's_theory_image.jpg

What Ptolemy did as a Mathematician:

He contributed greatly to trigonometry
Ptolemy found the lengths of the seasons
Ptolemy's observations and theories are preserved in a 13-part work entitled Mathematical Composition.
His Almagest gives in mathematical detail the theories of the Sun, Moon, and planets

What Claudius Ptolemy did as a Geographer:

He published a major work Geography, written in eight books
His books attempted to give coordinates of major places in latitude and longitude
Later the coordinates were found to be far off
Another one of his optics were in 5 books
In his optics he studied color, reflection, refraction, and mirrors of various shapes

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